The Art of Balance Series
with Danielle Giovonone

Friday 6:30pm -8:00pm

October 24th: Crow & Transitions
November 21st: Handstand & Headstand
December19th: Forearm Balance & Chinstand

Cost: Drop-in: $40 | Full 3 Series: $105

The Art of Balance workshops are designed to change your mind about balancing on your hands and forearms.

Arm balances invite us to connect more deeply with our bodies by building trust, overcoming fear, and embracing playful challenges. They offer an exciting way to add strength and refinement to your practice. These instructional workshops will focus on alignment and technique by breaking down the mechanics of each pose. You will learn step by step ways to enter each pose, creative transitions and modifications, and how to use props to help make arm balances more accessible in your practice. Arm balances are progressive in nature, with one pose often being the foundation for another.

Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create 🤍

Arm balance experience is not required to attend this series. It is welcome to beginners and experienced yogis who are thirsty for knowledge and the opportunity to challenge themselves.

The Crows & Transitions
For many yogis, the journey into arm balances begins with Crow Pose… often called the “gateway” arm balance. We will explore the mechanics of Crow, Baby Crow, and Side Crow, focusing on alignment, technique, and mindful progression. You’ll learn various pose modifications, creative transitions, and how to use props to make these poses more accessible. Together, we’ll build strength in the abdominals to help lift you up, increase hip mobility, and utilize breath to deepen twists and stabilize through the thoracic spine. This workshop will also introduce fundamental strength-building techniques for your arms, shoulders, and back muscles, creating a strong foundation for advanced arm balances.

So many postures are accessible from Crow, and once you start to learn them, the possibilities for more transitions are endless. Learn to shoot your legs back into Chaturanga while maintaining stability in your pelvis. Move into Tripod Headstand using your shoulder and arm strength. Flying Scissors from Crow… yes. Learn to use your core, shoulder and back strength to switch your legs in the air. You’ll also discover how to engage your lower abdominals and rebalance on one arm in Flying Crow, and harness inner thigh strength and core engagement to extend your legs into Eka Pada Koundinyasana I from Side Crow.

Handstand & Headstand
The Unicorn poses. We all want them, and we all can have them by learning the proper mechanics of the poses. There poses aren’t just about getting the legs straight up in the air, but rather getting your hips up. You will get to play against the wall for support to refine alignment, learning to bring the ribcage into a vertical position to stack the hips over the shoulders. You will also build strength in the abdominals and glutes to help support a neutral pelvis while getting upside down. Our hands play an important role in these poses too, learn how adjusting your grip and using your hands as your “breaks” can encourage stability while upside down. You’ll be introduced to different variations of headstand, and how to use your core and shoulder strength to encourage lifting away from the mat to remove pressure from the head and neck. Additionally, you will learn strengthening exercises for your core, shoulders, and back muscles that you can incorporate into your handstand and headstand practices to build confidence in balancing upside down.

If you turn your world upside down, you just might see more clearly.

Pincha Mayurasana & Ganda Bherundasana (Chin Stand)
Forearm balances are very challenging, but if you can shift your mind in the approach, you can shift your weight onto your forearms. Learn to strengthen and engage the back and shoulder muscles to create lightness on your forearms. Learn to maintain engagement of the core, glutes and hamstrings to float the legs, and the importance of maintaining stability in the pelvis for balance. We’ll also demystify Ganda Bherundasana (chin stand), exploring techniques to build strength in the shoulders, chest and upper back. Move through targeted backbend drills to help increase spinal mobility and flexibility, while using active leg engagement to help lift and balance. You’ll discover how engaging core muscles creates control and lightness in the body, allowing your chin to simply “kiss” the mat. Additionally, we’ll experiment with blocks to help access both these poses, while refining alignment and building strength in the shoulder girdle.